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Friday, July 12, 2013

Malmö FF's soccer team won their first Swedish title in 1944. Five years later, they had built such a strong team that they won three titles in a row, and were undefeated for 49 league-matches. The 1949-50 season was
their best, winning no less than 20 of their 22 games.

Olympics and World Cup

Life in Sweden just after the Second
World War was way better than in most parts of Europe. Sweden stayed neutral, and
the country didn’t suffer that much. The league wasn’t postponed and could
maintain a higher level than most countries could. Maybe that’s why Swedish
soccer had a very successful spell at the world stage, in the years immediately
after the war. First they managed to win the Olympic title in London, in 1948.
Two years later at the 1950 World Cup, Sweden did lose against host Brazil 7-1,
but still claimed the bronze medal at the end.

League title in 1949

Malmö FF, 1948-49

The first great Swedish team from 1945 onwards was Gunnar Nordahl's IFK Norrköping, winning the league four times (1945 until 1948). Then, in the 1948-49 season, Norrköping got off to a bad start and never recovered. Also, star striker Nordahl left for Italy (AC Milan) halfway through the season. This meant Helsingborgs IF and Malmö FF got into a game of musical chairs for the championship. Finally, Malmö FF ended the season with five victories to clinch the title: 2-1, 6-0, 12-0 (three goals by Borje Tapper, Stellan Nilsson and Carl-Erik Palmer, two by Kjell Rosén and one by Egon Jönsson), 5-1 and 4-0.

The 1949-50 season

Topscorer Ingvar Rydell on his way to another goal

At the start of the 1949-50 season, the Swedish Allsvenskan league again lost a few of their best players to Italian clubs. Gunnar Gren (IFK Göteborg) left for AC Milan, and so did Nils Liedholm (IFK Norrköping). Elfsborgs Ake Hjalmarsson went playing for AC Torino. Champion Malmö FF wasn’t affected by this at all, and started the season where they left off a few months earlier: by winning all their matches. On September 11 for example, they crushed IFK Göteborg by 9-2. Only Jönköping Sodra could keep up with Malmö FF. After nine matches, Jönköping Sodra were just four points behind. Then the two teams met on October 9, 1949, at the Malmö-stadium. With a 4-2 win Malmö FF buried all hopes for Jönköping.

Back-to-back victories

Kjell Rosén takes a shot

After that, Malmö FF kept on winning, sometimes by a big margin (5-0 or 5-1), but mostly comfortable with a two or three goals difference. This way the team won seventeen matches in a row. Which gave them a ten point lead over second placed Jonköping Sodra after those seventeen matches. With five matches left, on May 7, 1950 all Malmö FF needed was a draw against Kalmar FF. Of course they won (5-1), and was crowned champion. That victory was number 23 (and number last) in a row. During the rest of the season, Malmö allowed both AIK Solna (3-3) and Helsingborgs (2-2) to take one point away from them. Still, with twenty wins and two draws, Malmö FF was the first team ever to clinch the title without losing a game in the Swedish Allsvenskan (since in 1924). As a matter of fact, until this day no other Swedish team has been able to equal this amazing record. The final standings really show how dominant Malmö was that season:

Malmö FF

22

20

2

0

40 : 4

82 : 21

Jönköping Sodra

22

12

3

7

27 : 17

50 - 37

Helsingborgs IF

22

10

6

6

26 : 18

45 - 38

AIK Solna

22

10

6

6

26 : 18

34 - 31

GAIS

22

7

7

8

21 : 23

34 - 42

IFK Norrköping

22

9

2

11

20 : 24

36 - 45

Elfsborg

22

6

7

9

19 : 25

34 - 45

Djurgårdens IF

22

8

2

12

18 : 26

34 - 39

Kalmar FF

22

5

8

9

18 : 26

25 - 33

Degerfors

22

6

6

10

18 : 26

26 - 35

IFK Göteborg

22

5

5

12

15 : 29

33 - 49

Halmia

22

6

2

14

14 : 30

28 - 46

Erik Nilsson

When looking at Malmö FF’s team roster, it’s remarkable to see that no less than six players were born in 1922, and four in 1921. They were all in the best years of their career, both in experience and in strength. Only goalkeeper Helge Bengtsson and Erik Nilsson (both 33 years at the start of the season) were older, while promising youngster Carl-Erik Palmer (20 years) was the rookie of the team. Erik Nilsson was voted Swedish player of the year in 1950, Ingvar Rydell was the top goalscorer with 21 goals (number two, Hans Jeppsson (Djurgårdens IF) scored 18 and number three, Karl Simonsson (Jonköping Sodra) managed 16).

Malmö FF’s team roster:

Player

Born

Matches

Goals

Sven Hjertsson

07-03-1924

22

Helge Bengtsson (GK)

19-12-1916

22

Egon Jönsson

08-10-1921

22

15

Karl-Erik ‘Calle’
Palmer

17-04-1929

22

7

Ingvar Gård

06-10-1921

21

1

Arne Månsson

11-11-1925

21

Stellan Nilsson

28-05-1922

19

15

Ingvar Rydell

07-05-1922

19

21

Börje Tapper

20-03-1922

16

11

Kjell Hjertsson

01-08-1922

13

2

Hans Malmström

09-06-1921

13

Kjell Rosén

24-04-1921

10

1

Erik Nilsson

06-08-1916

8

Walfrid Ek

11-07-1922

6

6

Einar Mårtensson

Unknown

2

1

Sune Sandbring

10-04-1928

2

Gustaf Nilsson

20-10-1922

2

Kjell Persson

Unknown

1

2

World Cup 1950

Stellan Nilsson scoring

After the season, the Swedish national team - with eight Malmö FF-players - left for Brazil, to compete at the 1950 World Cup. They got off to a good start, beating Italy 3-2. Thanks to Hans Jeppsson (2 goals) and Sune Andersson (1 goal) and Helsingborgs goalie, Kalle Svensson, who was nearly unbeatable that day. Svensson also was outstanding in the match against Spain, giving him the nickname ‘Kalle-Rio’.

Although Sweden lost against
host Brazil (7-1) and soon to be world champion Uruguay (3-2), they ended the
tournament with a bronze medal.

This success immediately started a new exodus of talented soccer players abroad, especially towards Italy. Of the eleven players that beat the Italians in Såo Paolo, two months later six played in Italy, one in France and one in England:

Player

Swedish club in 1949-50

Club in 1950-51

Sune Andersson

AIK Solna

AS Roma (Ita)

Hans Jeppsson

IFK Göteborg

Charlton Athletic (Eng)

Knut Nordahl

IFK Norrköping

AS Roma (Ita)

Lennart Skoglund

AIK Solna

Internazionale Milan (Ita)

Stig Sundqvist

IFK Norrköping

AS Roma (Ita)

Kall Svensson

Helsingborgs IF

Helsingborgs IF

Ingvar Gård

Malmö FF

Sampdoria (Ita)

Stellan Nilsson

Malmö FF

Genoa (Ita)

Lennart Samuelsson

Elfsborg

OGC Nice (Fra)

Erik Nilsson

Malmö FF

Malmö FF

Karl-Erik Palmer

Malmö FF

Malmö FF

Out of the other players of the Swedish squad, Gunnar Johansson (GAIS, to Olympique Marseille, Fra), Brorr Mellberg (AIK Solna, to Genoa, Ita), and Börje Tapper (Malmö FF, to Genoa, Ita) also left Sweden.

The 1950-51 season

So this time around, champion Malmö FF saw three of their international players leaving for Italy. On top of that, Kjell Rosén also said goodbye to Malmö and started playing for AC Torino. Four other players (Hans Malmström, Kjell Hjertsson, Walfrid Ek and Gustaf Nilsson) all packed their bags and left for a club nearby, Helsingborgs IF.

Even so, the 1950-51 season was always in Malmö's hands, as Karl-Erik Palmer led the team to 21 games without a loss, only losing match number 22 to relegated AIK Solna. A year later, IFK Norrkoping ended Malmö FF’s reign. Still, These three titles in 1948, 1949 and 1950, gave the club two Swedish records, that will be hard to match up to, and probably will never be broken: